"Cora! They are waiting for you." Martha's voice sounded harsh. "And stop that foolish grinning.
Cora had to work to get the smile off her face, Robert had texted her. He gave her a working sim card. 'I cannot deal with being away from you without being able to call or text you.' He had said just before he got in the cab for the airport. She stole another kiss from him and waved until the cab was out of sight. Although they only spent a couple of hours together, it gave her enough energy to go through with the tiring book tour. Knowing that Robert was going to take her back to London was enough to keep going.
"Cora!" Martha's voice was very close, and she ripped the phone out of Cora's hands. "Who are you talking to?"
For a second Cora wanted to lie, but she would find out about what Robert meant to her soon enough. "I am talking to Robert."
"Is that the friend I met when I came to pick you up?"
Cora cringed, Martha made it sound as if it was normal, to book a flight and demand your daughter to go back to another country. "You indeed met Robert that afternoon in Kew Garden, but you also saw him a couple of days ago."
"I indeed saw you with a young man, I did not know Robert is in New York?"
"He is not at the moment. He had to go back to London right away."
"How strange that he was here for such a short period of time. Well enough about your friend, how is your new book coming along?"
"I do not understand how you think I could write. We are constantly on our way, when do you think a book is written? Magically?"
"I do not appreciate your tone young lady!" Martha scolded her, but quickly lowered her voice, when people came walking towards them. "It is time to go to the front."
Cora stretched; she had a rough night. Sleep did not want to come and when she finally fell asleep the alarm rang not much later. It was the last day of her US book tour, tomorrow she would go and book her flight back home. There had not been time to look into that earlier. She would not stay long at her mother's house. Before she knew it, there could be another book tour planned. She had to act and take her life back. What also did not help with falling asleep was the fact that Robert had been silent for over a day now. The last couple of weeks, they had texted constantly, they even managed to find time to call, even though it was very briefly. Cora started smiling, thinking about him. His voice, smooth and low. She loved his low rumble when he laughed. She could see the twinkling in his eyes in her mind. Every moment that she had felt alone and exhausted during this trip; she had looked at his messages. They had cheered her up and made the weeks bearable. It was probably very busy with the company, or his parent's asked a lot of his time. There must be a logical explanation, and she should not doubt.
With a bit of a struggle, Cora got out of bed and got ready for the day. She had three book signings and a Q at a small theatre tonight. She had to admit, her mother was doing everything she could to make her known to the general public, and it was working! She saw the numbers of books sold increasing every day, which was very exciting. She gave herself a final look in the mirror. "Come on, put on your smile and just focus on your flight back to London." She said to herself.
Stiff Cora got up from her chair, the Q seemed to never end. Although she had loved talking with the people in the room. They gave her some inspiration for her second book. She quickly pulled her notebook out of her bag and wrote down some ideas that she did not want to forget.
"A writer, will always find time to write."
Cora's head shot up, upon hearing that very familiar voice. "Robert?" She exclaimed, before her eyes registered him.
"How do you know I am Robert?" The voice sounded again, but Cora did not see where it came from. Suddenly she spotted him, standing in the second row in the theatre. Had he been there the whole time? How had she not seen him? To be fair, the lights had been pretty bright, and it was hard to even see the people on the first row. Quickly she put her notebook in her bag and walked towards the edge of the stage. She saw that Robert got out of the row and walked towards her. She looked down and got scared, that was higher than she had expected. Robert extended his arms.
"I will catch you." He said with so much confidence in his voice, that Cora did not hesitate. She sat down and lowered herself as far as she could, before she felt Robert's arms around her pulling her further down. Mid-air, she pressed her lips on his. He kept her in his arms, for a long time.
"What an amazing surprise, again." Cora smiled up at him, when he lowered her back on her feet.
"I promised you something the last time I was here, and now it is time to keep that promise."
Cora's heart melted; he had meant it literally. He would take her back to London.
"Harold will bring your suitcase to the airport, where we will meet him. Our flight will leave in about six hours."
"What?" Cora was not sure what to think about this. She did love that Robert was here and kept his promise to take her back to London. But now he was doing exactly the same as her mother had done.
"What is wrong? Do you not want to go back?"
Cora touched his arm. "I do want to go back to London, but not like this."
"I do not understand, what do you mean?"
In Robert's eyes was panic visible and Cora felt guilty for speaking up. At the same time, she realised, that she had to be very clear in what she wanted and needed. This would never work if she would let him do things like this, without telling him that she did not like it. "Why did you not ask me when I would like to go back?"
"I truly do not understand what you mean?"
With a deep sigh, Cora sat down on one of the chairs. Robert followed her movement. "My mother came to London and told me that my flight to New York was booked. She did not give me any time to think about what was happening. It was a fact, and I had to follow. You are doing the same thing." She looked up in his eyes and she saw that it dawned on him.
Robert took Cora's hands in his. "I am incredibly sorry. That was indeed very insensitive of me. I was just so excited to bring you back to London, that I did not think about what you would want. I could only think about being together with you again. I will cancel the tickets."
"No, no. Do not cancel. I cannot wait to be back in London. But for the future, please do not do this again."
His big hand now rested against Cora's face His thumb brushing over her cheek. "Next time I will first discus my idea's with you. Although not everything, I still love to surprise you from time to time."
"But I do like surprises, I do." She smiled.
"I was enchanted with you, while you were answering all those questions. Maybe this will sound weird, but I was so proud of you." His thumb still brushed over her cheek.
"Time to go write the next one, while I listen to your wonderful music. Do you have a piano at Downton?"
Robert swallowed and did not directly answer, what made Cora tug at his hand.
"Did I say something wrong?"
"You did not. It is just." He paused. "My family does not know I can play the piano."
"How did you hide that from them?"
"I started playing when I bought the house in Richmond. I had always dreamed of playing, but never got the change. My parents do not think it is something a man should do. We do have a grand piano at Downton, but only Rosamund played on it when she was younger. She never cared for that instrument."
"I am sorry."
"Why would you be sorry?"
"It is hard when your parents do not support your dreams."
Robert leaned in for another kiss. "You know the feeling." He chuckled.
